Ken Bunt is the President of Disney Music Group (DMG), headquartered in Burbank, California.
He has worked in various roles at DMG since 1999.
Ken Bunt: Early Career
Ken Bunt started his career at Def American Recordings, founded by the legendary Rick Rubin. At Def American, Ken Bunt worked with artists including Sir Mix-a-Lot and the Black Crowes. He and Rubin most notably worked with Johnny Cash, whose career and legacy was restored by Rubin’s reductionist-production style.
Rubin famously dropped the “Def” from his label’s name during Bunt’s stint with the company, holding a funeral ceremony for the meaningless word after its incorporation into dictionaries. It was with Rubin and Bunt that Cash released his album American Recordings, which shared the new namesake of Rubin’s label. American Recordings (album) was the beginning of a series with Rubin which ultimately resurrected Cash’s career. The series earned American Records (label) five Grammy Awards and the series’ initial entry is considered by Rolling Stone to be one of the greatest albums of all time.
Ken Bunt: Career at Disney Music Group
After leaving American Recordings in 1998, Bunt joined Hollywood Studios and Disney Music Group as a Vice President of Digital Media Strategy.
Bunt remained in this position for nearly four years, focusing on marketing strategies for artists and their content to increase consumption of DMG’s music catalog.
In 2003, Bunt assumed the role of Senior Vice President of Marketing. In this role, Bunt concentrated on DMG’s music partnerships. These partnerships include the Hollywood Records Artist business, Disney film and television soundtracks, the Disney Concert business, and Disney’s extensive music catalog. He served in this role until 2011.
In 2013, Bunt was promoted to President of DMG. He was assigned the presiding role after substantially expanding DMG’s publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group. The deal also gave DMG’s music roster access to all of Universal Music Group’s producers and songwriters.
As President of DMG, Bunt oversees Hollywood Records, Walt Disney Records, and film and television soundtracks for Disney and all of their subsidiaries.
These include the recently acquired 20th Century Fox studios, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and all other Disney properties. In totality, Bunt is responsible for all of Disney’s recorded music, music publishing, and live concerts. He also works alongside DMG’s signed artists including Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato.Music Business Worldwide